GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Antonius Block Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan play a couple of dissatisfied, bitter middle-aged people in 'Clash by Night', a film which may leave you as dissatisfied as it left me. It's a shame, because the combination of director Fritz Lang, Barbara Stanwyck, and Marilyn Monroe was intriguing. In the film, Stanwyck has returned to the fisheries in Monterey after failing to realize her big ambitions on the east coast, and Ryan is not happy in his marriage. Stanwyck rebuffs Ryan's advances because he's married, and then softens towards a nice guy (Paul Douglas). The film has several issues, starting with the characters being one-dimensional and not remotely likeable. Stanwyck is cynical, Douglas is cartoonishly simple, and Ryan is a glowering bully, who, among other things, gives us a highly racist and horrifying impression of Chinese people. The acting is overplayed and poor, particularly from Douglas and Ryan, but even Stanwyck's performance is uneven, though she has her moments. At various points all three actors break out into torrents of emotion in the least authentic way. There is also zero chemistry between Stanwyck and Ryan, and too often the dialogue or delivery is overwrought. Lang piles it on with obvious symbolism in shots of stormy clouds and the ocean pounding the shore. Everything about it seems heavy-handed, and on top of it all, the ending is unbelievable and groan-inducing.I would watch it just for the scenes with Marilyn Monroe, who is incidental to the main story, but delightful. She is unaffected and natural, as is Keith Andes, who plays her boyfriend (and Stanwyck's brother). I give one star for her, and one star for Stanwyck's better moments, and because I adore her so. After that, I have to say, whew it's tough. Not sure why this one gets as many high ratings as it does.

evanston_dad Don't for a second believe anyone who tries to convince you that this is a film noir. The only noir things about "Clash by Night" are its nonsensical title and some actors, notably Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan, who appeared in their fair share of films of that genre.No, "Clash by Night" is a character study of three people caught up in a romantic triangle. Stanwyck is the hard-luck girl who returns to her hometown after some sordid things have happened to her and tries to be happy with a steady-but-boring regular Joe (Paul Douglas). But she's really drawn to the town bad boy (played by Ryan) even though she knows he'd treat her, well, badly. "Clash by Night" is adapted from a Clifford Odets play, and its stage origins show. It's a pretty talky film and feels fairly stagy despite being helmed by master director Fritz Lang. On the plus side, it offers some really satisfyingly complex characterizations and allows three talented actors to develop characters that defy easy categorization. It also asks us to think about the film's casually violent treatment of women, either literally or rhetorically, a theme that feels especially relevant just now.Grade: B

tomsview Two things drew me to this film when it appeared recently on TCM. The first was Marilyn Monroe in an early role. The other was because it was based on a play by Clifford Odets.Although Odets was a famous playwright with the Group Theatre in the 1930's, I first became aware of him when he featured in Sam Kashner's brilliant "Vanity Fair" article, "A Movie Marked Danger", the story of the making of "The Sweet Smell of Success" where Kashner gave fascinating insights into the man and his career. I had also read about Odet's affair with Francis Farmer, which helped send her over the edge. From then on, I always looked out for his work and learnt more about him.After a 10-year absence, Mae Doyle (Barbara Stanwyck) returns to her hometown, the fishing town of Monterey. She becomes the catalyst for tension between her brother Joe (Keith Anders) and his girlfriend Peggy (Marilyn Monroe). She also becomes the centre of attention of two men, fishing boat skipper Jerry D'Amato (Paul Douglas) and his friend, Earl Pfeiffer (Robert Ryan).Although he didn't adapt the play for the screen, Odet's ideas and world-view still come through."Clash by Night" takes a while to get into, but the film picks up the pace when the focus turns to Earl's character. Robert Ryan's Earl is an amazing creation. He seems cynical of every human emotion including his own, and is a complex and insidious character. Authors create alter egos in their characters, but if Odets was exorcising demons through Earl, he was a man with issues. After all, when dying of cancer, Odets summed up life thus: "That miserable patch of events, that mélange of nothing, while you were looking ahead for something to happen, that was it! That was life! You lived it!"For the most part, the cast takes the often over-ripe dialogue in their stride. If the film has a fault with casting, it's with some of the racial stereotyping. Hollywood has a lot to answer for in its depiction of Italians, especially when played by non-Italians like J. Carrol Naish. But that is nothing compared to Earl's impersonation of Chinese; it's just plain embarrassing – it receives an appropriate look of disdain from Mae although Paul Douglas' character finds it hilarious. TCM have been quick to cut nude scenes from movies, but maybe that's a scene that is far more offensive.Barbara Stanwyck's low-key style works best in this film; it would have been easy to go overboard with some of the emotion-charged dialogue. Paul Douglas basically plays another variation of himself, and of course, you can't forget Marilyn Monroe. This was before full Marilyn mode, and she is perfect as the pretty girlfriend who is not sure her life is heading in the right direction.Any Fritz Lang film is worth a look, however, the enjoyment of "Clash by Night" is definitely enhanced if you know something about the characters before and behind the camera.

Michael Neumann Tough cookie Barbara Stanwyck finds little piece of mind after returning home from the big city to the Monterrey seashore and marrying a mild-mannered fisherman. Before long, restlessness leads her into a tawdry affair with kindred spirit Robert Ryan, a hard drinking loner and one of her trusting husband's best friends. The entire cast of characters may be troubled and/or confused, but thankfully the same shortcomings don't extend behind the camera. From a stage drama that could easily have been played as shabby melodrama, Fritz Lang directed a memorable tragedy of human misconduct, crowded with unspoken passions and permeated by a climate of impending menace.